Vehicle identity access management

ABSTRACT

A vehicle includes a controller, programmed to responsive to identifying a first user via a mobile device, load a first non-person entity associated with the first user from the mobile device to configure vehicle settings, the first non-person entity including a driver setting, a first entertainment setting and a second entertainment setting; and responsive to identifying a second user entering the vehicle, switch from the first entertainment setting to a second entertainment setting.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to vehicle identity accessmanagement (IAM). More specifically, the present disclosure relates to avehicle IAM system using a personal entity.

BACKGROUND

Many vehicle consumers use connected features. Currently, most featuresare vehicle-centric, e.g. a user may configure seat, radio settings on aspecific vehicle, and those settings are not carried over when the userchanges the vehicle. In addition, when a vehicle has multiple users(e.g. husband and wife), one user may prefer to share some profiles withthe other user while keeping the rest of the profiles private. Forinstance, the husband may want to share his satellite radio subscriptionwith his wife, but keep his seat and air-conditioning (AC) settingsseparate. Under the current vehicle-centric model, this may be difficultto achieve.

SUMMARY

In one or more illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, avehicle includes a controller, programmed to responsive to identifying afirst user via a mobile device, load a first non-person entity (NPE)associated with the first user from the mobile device to configurevehicle settings, the first NPE including a driver setting, a firstentertainment setting and a second entertainment setting; and responsiveto identifying a second user entering the vehicle, switch from the firstentertainment setting to a second entertainment setting.

In one or more illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, avehicle includes a controller, programmed to responsive to receiving arequest for payment option from a fueling station, search for a paymentprofile associated with a current vehicle user; responsive to detectinga payment profile, verify if the payment profile includes a purchasecategory covering the fueling station; and responsive to verifying thefueling station is covered, send a request for payment authorization toa cloud server.

In one or more illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, amethod for a vehicle includes receiving a configuration for the vehicleassociated with a first user including a driver setting from a cloudserver; responsive to detecting a first mobile device of the first userhas entered the vehicle, applying the driver setting to the vehicle;responsive to detecting a second mobile device of a second user hasentered the vehicle, loading an entertainment setting of the second userfrom the second mobile device; and applying the entertainment setting tothe vehicle without updating the driver setting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how it may beperformed, embodiments thereof will now be described, by way ofnon-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example block topology of a vehicle system of oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example schematic diagram of one embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a first example diagram for personal entity of oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a second example diagram for personal entity of oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a third example diagram for personal entity of oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example schematic diagram of another embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example schematic diagram of another embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example flow diagram of one embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example schematic diagram of another embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 10 illustrates an example data flow diagram of oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example data flow diagram of another embodimentof the present disclosure; and

FIG. 12 illustrates an example data flow diagram of yet anotherembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in variousand alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

The present disclosure generally provides for a plurality of circuits orother electrical devices. All references to the circuits and otherelectrical devices, and the functionality provided by each, are notintended to be limited to encompassing only what is illustrated anddescribed herein. While particular labels may be assigned to the variouscircuits or other electrical devices, such circuits and other electricaldevices may be combined with each other and/or separated in any mannerbased on the particular type of electrical implementation that isdesired. It is recognized that any circuit or other electrical devicedisclosed herein may include any number of microprocessors, integratedcircuits, memory devices (e.g., FLASH, random access memory (RAM), readonly memory (ROM), electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), or othersuitable variants thereof) and software which co-act with one another toperform operation(s) disclosed herein. In addition, any one or more ofthe electric devices may be configured to execute a computer-programthat is embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that isprogramed to perform any number of the functions as disclosed.

The present disclosure, among other things, proposes a vehicle IAMsystem. More specifically, the present disclosure proposes a vehicle IAMsystem utilizing user entities and vehicle entities.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example block topology of a vehicle system 100of one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. A vehicle102 may include various types of automobile, crossover utility vehicle(CUV), sport utility vehicle (SUV), truck, recreational vehicle (RV),boat, plane, or other mobile machine for transporting people or goods.In many cases, the vehicle 102 may be powered by an internal combustionengine. As another possibility, the vehicle 102 may be battery electricvehicle (BEV), a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) powered by both aninternal combustion engine and one or move electric motors, such as aseries hybrid electric vehicle (SHEV), a parallel hybrid electricvehicle (PHEV), or a parallel/series hybrid vehicle (PSHEV), a boat, aplane or other mobile machine for transporting people or goods. As anexample, the system 100 may include the SYNC system manufactured by TheFord Motor Company of Dearborn, Mich. It should be noted that theillustrated system 100 is merely an example, and more, fewer, and/ordifferently located elements may be used.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a computing platform 104 may include one ormore processors 106 configured to perform instructions, commands, andother routines in support of the processes described herein. Forinstance, the computing platform 104 may be configured to executeinstructions of vehicle applications 108 to provide features such asnavigation, IAM, and wireless communications. Such instructions andother data may be maintained in a non-volatile manner using a variety oftypes of computer-readable storage medium 110. The computer-readablemedium 110 (also referred to as a processor-readable medium or storage)includes any non-transitory medium (e.g., tangible medium) thatparticipates in providing instructions or other data that may be read bythe processor 106 of the computing platform 104. Computer-executableinstructions may be compiled or interpreted from computer programscreated using a variety of programming languages and/or technologies,including, without limitation, and either alone or in combination, Java,C, C++, C#, Objective C, Fortran, Pascal, Java Script, Python, Perl, andPL/SQL.

The computing platform 104 may be provided with various featuresallowing the vehicle occupants/users to interface with the computingplatform 104. For example, the computing platform 104 may receive inputfrom human-machine interface (HMI) controls 112 configured to providefor occupant interaction with the vehicle 102. As an example, thecomputing platform 104 may interface with one or more buttons (notshown) or other HMI controls configured to invoke functions on thecomputing platform 104 (e.g., steering wheel audio buttons, apush-to-talk button, instrument panel controls, etc.).

The computing platform 104 may also drive or otherwise communicate withone or more displays 114 configured to provide visual output to vehicleoccupants by way of a video controller 116. In some cases, the display114 may be a touch screen further configured to receive user touch inputvia the video controller 116, while in other cases the display 114 maybe a display only, without touch input capabilities. The computingplatform 104 may also drive or otherwise communicate with one or morespeakers 118 configured to provide audio output to vehicle occupants byway of an audio controller 120.

The computing platform 104 may also be provided with navigation androute planning features through a navigation controller 122 configuredto calculate navigation routes responsive to user input via e.g., theHMI controls 112, and output planned routes and instructions via thespeaker 118 and the display 114. Location data that is needed fornavigation may be collected from a global navigation satellite system(GNSS) controller 124 configured to communicate with multiple satellitesand calculate the location of the vehicle 102. The GNSS controller 124may be configured to support various current and/or future global orregional location systems such as global positioning system (GPS),Galileo, Beidou, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and thelike. Map data used for route planning may be stored in the storage 110as a part of the vehicle data 126. Navigation software may be stored inthe storage 110 as a part of the vehicle applications 108.

The computing platform 104 may be configured to wirelessly communicatewith a mobile device 128 of the vehicle users/occupants via a wirelessconnection 130. The mobile device 128 may be any of various types ofportable computing device, such as cellular phones, tablet computers,wearable devices, smart watches, laptop computers, portable musicplayers, or other device capable of communication with the computingplatform 104. A wireless transceiver 132 may be in communication with aWi-Fi controller 134, a Bluetooth controller 136, a radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) controller 138, a near-field communication (NFC)controller 140, and other controllers such as a Zigbee transceiver, anIrDA transceiver (not shown), and configured to communicate with acompatible wireless transceiver 142 of the mobile device 128.

The mobile device 128 may be provided with a processor 144 configured toperform instructions, commands, and other routines in support of theprocesses such as navigation, telephone, wireless communication, andmulti-media processing. For instance, the mobile device 128 may beprovided with location and navigation functions via a navigationcontroller 146 and a GNSS controller 148. The mobile device 128 may beprovided with a wireless transceiver 142 in communication with a Wi-Ficontroller 150, a Bluetooth controller 152, a RFID controller 154, anNFC controller 156, and other controllers (not shown), configured tocommunicate with the wireless transceiver 132 of the computing platform104. The mobile device 128 may be further provided with a non-volatilestorage 158 to store various mobile application 160 and mobile data 162.The storage 158 may be further configured to store a personal entity 164(to be described in detail below) associated with a user of the mobiledevice 128.

The computing platform 104 may be further configured to communicate withvarious components of the vehicle 102 via one or more in-vehicle network166. The in-vehicle network 166 may include, but is not limited to, oneor more of a controller area network (CAN), an Ethernet network, and amedia-oriented system transport (MOST), as some examples.

The computing platform 104 may be configured to communicate with variousECUs 168 of the vehicle 102 configured to perform various options. Forinstance, the computing platform may be configured to communicate with aTCU 170 configured to control telecommunication between vehicle 102 anda cloud 172 through a wireless connection 174 using a modem 176. Thewireless connection 174 may be in the form of various communicationnetwork e.g. a cellular network. The term cloud is used as a generalterm in the present disclosure and may include any computing networkinvolving computers, servers, controllers or the like configured tostore data and perform data processing functions and facilitatecommunication between various entities.

The ECUs 168 may further include a powertrain control module (PCM) 178configured to monitor and control powertrain settings of the vehicle102. For instance, the PCM 178 may be configured to control operation ofthe stop/start of an engine (not shown), and/or the driving mode (e.g.economic, normal, or sport) of the vehicle 102. The ECUs 168 may furtherinclude a body control module (BCM) 180 configured to monitor andcontrol body operations of the vehicle 102. For instance, the BCM 180may be configured to control and monitor body functions such as doorlock/unlock, seatbelt warning, vehicle occupancy, blind spot monitoringor the like using signals detected via one or more sensors (not shown).The ECUs 168 may further include a heating ventilation and airconditioning (HVAC) controller 182 configured to operate a climatecontrol system for the interior of the vehicle 102. The ECUs 168 mayfurther include an autonomous driving controller (ADC) 184 configured tomonitor and control the autonomous driving features of the vehicle 102.Some autonomous driving feature may include lane keep assist, safedistance from other vehicles, cruise control, hands-off-wheel alert,autobraking, brake mitigation with multiple sensitivity levels or thelike. Setting and configurations of the various ECUs 168 may be storedin the storage 110 as a vehicle entity 186.

Referring to FIG. 2, a schematic diagram 200 of one embodiment of thepresent disclosure is illustrated. With continuing reference to FIG. 1,in the present example, two vehicles 102 are associated with three users202. The present example may be applied to a family of three having twovehicles. A first user 202 a (e.g. the husband) may be the owner of bothvehicles 102 a, 102 b and the primary driver of the first vehicle 102 a(e.g. a sedan). A second user 202 b (e.g. the wife) may be the primarydriver of the second vehicle 102 b (e.g. a mini-van). A third user 202 c(e.g. the child) may be the rider of both vehicles 102 a, 102 b.Although both vehicles 102 are owned by the first user 202 a in thepresent example, it is noted that vehicle ownership may be shared withmultiple users of the same group (to be described below). As discussedpreviously with reference to FIG. 1, each vehicle 102 may be associatedwith a vehicle entity 186 having various entries 204. The first vehicle102 a may be associated with a first vehicle entity 186 a having entries204 a. As a few non-limiting examples, the entries 204 a may includevarious settings and configuration of the first vehicle 102 a such asseat setting, air-conditioning (AC) setting or the like. The secondvehicle 102 b may be associated with a second vehicle entity 186 bhaving various entries 204 b.

Similar to the vehicles 102, each user 202 may be associated with apersonal entity 164 stored in the mobile device used by each specificuser 202. For instance, the first user 202 a may have a first personalentity 164 a associated with various entries 206 a. The entries 206 mayalso be referred to as NPEs 208 a configured to record properties ofvarious settings. For instance, the NPEs may include subscriptions,groups, profiles or the like as a few non-limiting examples. Similarly,the second user 202 b and the third user 202 c may each have a secondpersonal entity 164 b, 164 c associated with entries 202 b, 206 c (NPEs208 b, 208 c) respectively. Additionally or alternatively, the personalentity 164 may be primarily stored in the cloud 172 and shared with themobile device 128 and the computing platform 104. The mobile device 128and the computing platform 104 may store a copy of the personal entity164 and attributes for a given time before a synchronization with thecloud 172 occurs.

Referring to FIG. 3, an example diagram 300 for a personal entity of oneembodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. With continuingreference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the personal entity 164 a of the first user202 a may be associated with various entries. Continuing with the abovefamily of three example, the personal entity 164 a may be associatedwith a group entry 302, which in this case may be assigned with anidentifier of Group Family—ID1 for instance. All of the three familymembers 202 may be in this group, although each user may be a member ofother different groups. The group entry 302 may further indicate therole of the first user 202 a. There are various roles to be assigned toeach user. For instance, the roles may include an owner—having thehighest authority to control and access a vehicle, a driver—havingintermediate authorization to fully access a vehicle, and a rider—havingthe lowest authorization with limited access to a vehicle. In thepresent example, the first user 202 a, as the owner of both vehicles102, may be assigned the roles of owner, driver, rider for both vehicles102. The personal entity 164 a may be further associated with aphone-as-a-key (PaaK) entry 304 configured to authorize digital accessof vehicles 102. As the owner of both vehicles 102, the first user maybeassigned with an administer PaaK allowing the first user 202 a toissue/authorize keys to other users to access both vehicles 102.

The personal entity 164 a may be further associated with variouspreference entries 306 for the first user 202 a. The preferences 306 maybe further divided by each of the two vehicles 102 separately. For thefirst vehicle 102 a, the first user 202 a may have two preferences, eachassociated with one or more driver preference and entertainmentpreference separately or collectively. For instance, the user 202 a mayhave a first preference 308 and a second preference 310. The firstpreference 308 may be associated with a first driver preference 312 anda first entertainment preference 314, and the second preference 310 maybe associated with the same first driver preference 312 and a secondentertainment preference 316. In this example, the first preference 308and the second preference 310 share the same driver preferences 312 suchas seat setting, mirror setting, climate setting, driving mode settingor the like. The first preference 308 and the second preference 310 maybe associated with different entertainment preferences 314 and 316including subscription, music, radio settings or the like. For thesecond vehicle 102 b, the first user 202 a may have only one preferenceas he is not the primary driver of the vehicle 102 b. The preference mayinclude a second driver preference 318 and a third entertainmentpreference 320.

Referring to FIG. 4, an example diagram 400 for a second personal entityof one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. Withcontinuing reference to FIGS. 1-3, the personal entity 164 b of thesecond user 202 b may be associated with various entries. The personalentity 164 b may be associated with a group entry 402 indicating GroupFamily—ID1, the same as the first user 202 a. Group Family—ID1 isassociated with two vehicles 102. In the present example, the role 404for the second user is driver and rider for the first vehicle 102 a. Forthe second vehicle 102 b, the role 406 for the second user is driver andrider. It is noted that one user's role may vary from vehicle tovehicle. In some groups (not shown), the same user may the owner of onevehicle, but only a rider for another vehicle. The personal entity 164 bmay be further associated with a PaaK entry 408 associated with bothvehicles 102. For the first vehicle 102 a, the second user 202 b may bea user 410 for the PaaK feature and is allowed to receive keys but notto issue keys. For the second vehicle 102 b, the second user 202 b maybe an administrator and is allowed to issue keys to other users.

The personal entity 164 b may be further associated with variouspreference entries 414 for the second user 202 b. The preferences 414may be further divided by each of the two vehicles 102 separately. Forthe first vehicle 102 a, the second user 202 b may have a third driverpreference 416 and a fourth entertainment preference 418. As discussedpreviously, the driver preference may include settings for seat, mirror,driving mode, whereas the entertainment preference may include settingsfor music, subscription or the like. The second user 202 b may have afourth driver preference 420 and a fifth entertainment preference 422for the second vehicle 102 b. The personal entity 164 b may be furtherassociated with an entry for subscriptions 424 of the second user. Forinstance, the subscription entry may include a first subscription forsatellite radio 426. The first subscription for satellite radio 426 maybe set to be shared with other members of the Group Family—ID1. Thesubscription entry 424 may further include a second subscription forvideo streaming 428 which is not shared with any other users without thepresence of the second user 202 b in the same vehicle.

Referring to FIG. 5, an example diagram 500 for a third personal entityof one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. Withcontinuing reference to FIGS. 1-4, the personal entity 164 c of thethird user 202 c may be associated with have various entries. Thepersonal entity 164 c may be associated with a group entry 502indicating Group Family—ID1, the same group as the first user 202 a andthe second user 202 b. The personal entity 164 c may be furtherassociated with a PaaK entry 504 for the third user. Compared to theauthority of the first and second user 202 a and 202 b, the third user202 c (e.g. the child) may have limited access to both vehicles 102. Forinstance, the third user 202 c may have be a user for the first vehiclehaving limited access only to doors and the trunk. In other words, thethird user 202 c may be allowed to open and close doors and the trunkwhen he/she is alone with the first vehicle 102 a. For the secondvehicle, the third user 202 c may have limited access to doors, thetrunk and the entertainment system.

The embodiment illustrated with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5 may be appliedto various examples. For instance, the three users 202 of GroupFamily—ID1 are a family of three sharing two vehicles 102. Within GroupFamily—ID1, each user 202 may have one or more associated roles. Forinstance, the first user 202 a (e.g. the husband) may have the owner,driver and rider roles for both vehicles 102. The second user 202 b(e.g. the wife) may have the driver and rider roles only. This meansthat the first user 202 a, as the owner, may have the obligation to payfor both vehicles 102 or has paid the vehicles 102 in full. The thirduser 202 c (e.g. the child, age 10) may have only the rider role, givenhis age.

Each user 202 may have a personal entity 164 associated with a list ofNPEs 208. For instance, the NPEs may include the vehicles 102, themobile devices 128, the PaaK 304 associated with a mobile device 128.Each personal entity 164 may have a profile storing information aboutthe user 202 and a list of preferences/settings attached to the user.These preferences may allow the user to easier manage customizedexperience by grouping together various settings for different vehiclecapabilities and/or subscriptions. Each preference/setting may have alist of value or properties, depending on the capability and/orsubscription. A separation may be imposed between different types ofpreferences. For instance, with reference to FIG. 3, the first user 202a may have one driver preference 312, but two entertainment preferences314, 316. Grouping the driver preference 312 and the entertainmentpreferences 314, 316 separately may provide the advantage of keeping thesame driving experience configured while easily changing switchingbetween different entertainment options depending on the vehicle and/orthe vehicle occupants. For instance, the first user 202 a may prefer tolisten to rock station music (e.g. the first entertainment preference314) when he drives alone, but prefer to listen to classical music (e.g.the second entertainment preference 316) when he travels with the entirefamily. Furthermore, the separation between different types ofpreferences may enable loading the driving preference for one user andthe entertainment preference for another user occupying the vehicle 102as the same time. The vehicles 102 may be configured to identify eachvehicle occupant via the mobile devices 128 associated with each user202.

The entertainment preferences may be associated with third partysubscriptions. Referring to FIG. 4, the second user 202 b may have asatellite radio subscription 426 and a video streaming subscription 428.The second user 202 b may configure the subscriptions 424 to share thesatellite radio service 426 with all members of Group Family—ID1, i.e.the first user 202 a and the third user 202 c. For the video streamingservice 428, the second user may choose to make the service available inthe vehicle 102 only when she is present.

Furthermore, each user 202 of the Group Family—ID1 may be associatedwith a PaaK allowing the user to access and/or use the vehicles 102using a mobile device 128 without requiring a physical key. Based on theowner role of the first user 202 a, the first user 202 a may have theadministrator role associated to keys to both vehicles 102. Theadministrator role may give the first user 202 a full access to bothvehicles 102 and allow the first user 202 a to issue other keys to otherusers and set the appropriate access level. Here, the first user 202 amay be allowed to issue keys to users beyond Group Family—ID1. For thesecond user 202 b with reference to FIG. 4, she may have different PaaKroles for different vehicles 102. For the second vehicle 102 b which thesecond user primarily drivers, the second user 202 b may have theadministrator role allowing her to issue keys. For the first vehicle 102a, the second user 202 b may be a user with full access, but not allowedto issue keys to other users. For the third user 202 c with reference toFIG. 5, the child may be giving a restricted user PaaK, allowing him toaccess the doors and the trunk for both vehicle, and entertainmentsystem only for the second vehicle 102 b. The restricted user PaaK doesnot allow the third user 202 c to drive/operate either of the vehicles102 (e.g. start the engine, change gears or the like).

Referring to FIG. 6, an example schematic diagram of another embodimentof the present disclosure is illustrated. With continuing reference toFIGS. 1-5, in the present example, the family of three rents a vehicle602 having a vehicle entity 604. The rental vehicle 602 is associatedwith a fleet operator 606 having the roles of fleet operator of GroupFleet X 610 and administrator for PaaK. With these roles, the fleetoperator 606 may manage and control various settings of the rentalvehicle 602 which may not be available for rental vehicle customers. Forinstance, the fleet operator 602 may manage the fleet location settingsallowing the operator 602 to know the location of the vehicle 602. Withthe administrator PaaK role, the operator 602 may generate new keys androles to other users.

In the present example, the first user 202 a may be the driver of theGroup Fleet—X 612 and assigned a fleet user PaaK 614 with full access tothe rental vehicle 602. Responsive to the association between thevehicle entity and the personal entity 164 a, the first driverpreference 312 may be uploaded to the rental vehicle 602. The seconduser 202 b may be a rider in the Group Fleet—X and given a fleet userPaaK 618 with full access to the rental vehicle 602. The second user maytake over the entertainment system and upload her entertainmentpreference 418 after starting to use the vehicle 602. The third user 202c may be a rider of Group Fleet—X 620 and have a Paak with restrictedaccess to the vehicle 602.

Referring to FIG. 7, an example schematic diagram 700 of anotherembodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. In the presentexample, a dealer operator 702 may be a business entity 704 associatedwith Group Dealer—X. The operator 702 may place an order using ordermanagement application (not shown) for a number of vehicles 708 eachhaving a vehicle entity 710 and suggest some preconfigured settings forthe vehicles. The first user 202 a may be a customer at the dealership.Using the personal entity 164 a, the first user 202 a may start toconfigure settings of the vehicles 708 before test driving the vehicles708. For instance, the first user may be issued with a test drive PaaK712 granting a limited time period to access the vehicle 708 (e.g. onehour). The personal entity 164 a may be further associated with apreference group 714 having the first driver preference 312 and firstentertainment preference 314 to upload to the test drive vehicle 708 a.

Referring to FIG. 8, an example flow diagram for a process 800 of oneembodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. With continuingreference to FIGS. 1 to 7, at operation 802 the computing platform 104identifies a first user 202 a has entered the vehicle 102 via the mobiledevice 128 associated with the first user 202 a. In response, thecomputing platform 104 load the NPEs 208 a associated with the personalentity 164 a of the first user 202 a. The computing platform 104 mayload the first driver preference 312 to provide a customized drivingexperience. Additionally, the computing platform 104 may load the firstentertainment preference 312 as the first user 202 a is currently theonly user in the vehicle. At operation 804, the computing platform 104receive a user request to load a subscription entertainment service 428,e.g. video streaming service. As discussed previously, the videostreaming service 428 is subscribed by the second user 202 b and may notbe shared without the presence of the second user 202 b in the samevehicle. At operation 806, the computing platform 104 detects if thesecond user 202 b is present. If the second user 202 b is detected, theprocess proceeds to operation 808 and the computing platform 104 switchto video streaming service. However, if the present example, the seconduser 202 b is not yet present in the vehicle 102. Therefore, the processproceeds to operation 810 and the computing platform 104 declines theuser request. Additionally, the computing platform 104 may record theuser request for future reference.

At operation 812, the computing platform 104 detects the second user 202b has entered the vehicle 102 and load the NPEs 208 b associated withthe second user. The detection may be made via the mobile device 128carried by the second user 202 b. Alternatively, the computing platform104 may be configured to identify the second user 202 b via biometricmeans, such as facial recognition via a camera (not shown), fingerprintvia a fingerprint sensor (not shown) or the like. Additionally oralternatively, the identification and authentication of the user may beperformed by the second user 202 b entering a password or personalidentification number (PIN) through the HMI controls 112. Personalentity 164 b and NPEs 208 b of the second user may be stored in thestorage 110 of the vehicle 102. Alternatively, the computing platform104 may be configured to load the personal entity 164 b and NPEs 208 bfrom the cloud 172. Responsive to detecting the second user 202 b hasentered the vehicle 102, at operation 814, the computing platform 104switch the current entertainment setting from the first entertainmentpreference 314 (e.g. rock music) to the second entertainment preference316 (e.g. classic music), as the first user 202 a may not want to usethe first entertainment preference 314 when other users are present.Alternatively, the computing platform 104 may switch to the fourthentertainment preference 418 of the second user 202 b automatically orupon a user input. At operation 818, the computing platform 104 loadsthe user request for video streaming previously recorded and prompt themessage via the HMI controls 112 to ask if the user still wants toswitch to the video streaming service as now sharing condition has beenmet by the presence of the second user 202 b. At operation 818, if thecomputing platform 104 receives a user confirmation, the processproceeds to operation 820 and to switch to video streaming service.Otherwise, the process proceeds to operation 822 and the computingplatform 104 keeps the current entertainment settings unchanged.

Referring to FIG. 9, an example schematic diagram 900 of anotherembodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. In this example,one or more external service provider accounts (e.g. Outlook, Amazon,Netflix and etc.) are linked to the personal entity 164 of the user 202.The user 202 may use the mobile application 160 of the mobile device 128to link the accounts in the cloud. Responsive to a success linking, thepersonal entity 164 may be associated with a first account link 902 aand a second account link 902 b. The account links 902 may have a tokenfor authorization in the cloud 172 and an entitlement for services. Withthe token and entitlement, the HMI controls 112 of the vehicle 102 mayautomatically log into the respective accounts the user 202 which hasidentified him/herself to the vehicle 102. Additionally, a consentclient 904 may be further associated with the personal entity 164configured to allow the user 202 and/or other client exposing thedisplay 114 to manage consent data and scope of settings.

Referring to FIG. 10, an example data flow diagram for a consent requestprocess 1000 of one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.In this example, a courier 1002 may be a business partner of the vehicleuser 202. The courier may request for accessing vehicle owner relatedinformation. For instance, the courier 1002 may be associated with adelivery-to-vehicle service and request for vehicle location to create adelivery route. The courier IAM system 1004 may be connected/federatedwith the vehicle IAM 1006 for data sharing. At operation 1012, thecourier 1002 request to authenticate with the courier IAM 1004 (e.g.with a handheld device) to start the process. The courier IAM 1004returns the courier 1002 with a token authorizing the process atoperation 1014. At operation 1016, the courier 1002 sends a request forvehicle location to the application programming interface (API) 1008 ofthe vehicle IAM 1006. The API 1008 verifies the entitlement of thecourier with the vehicle IAM 1006 at operation 1018, responsive toreceiving the request. In the present example, however, the vehicle IAM1006 verifies the authorization for the particular courier 1002 has notbeen granted at operation 920. In response, the vehicle IAM 1006 sends arequest for consent to the user 202 at operation 1022. The request maybe sent to the user 202 via various means. For instance, the request maybe sent via email, text message, push notification or the like. Scopeinformation may also be provided in the consent request. The scope mayhold metadata such as number of times the request may be placed,validity period (e.g. temporary or permanent), or the like.

Responsive to receiving the request, the user 202 may choose to grantthe consent with a scope (e.g. validity time period) via mobileapplication 160 or a web interface at operation 1024, and send theconsent back to the vehicle IAM 1006 at operation 1026. At operation1028, the vehicle IAM 1006 stores the consent including the scope (ifprovided), for any subsequent request of this type from the samebusiness partner. At operation 1030, the vehicle IAM 1006 responds tothe API 1008 to authorize the request and lets the API 1008 to reach thetop management commitment (TMC) system to retrieve the vehicle location.At operation 1032, the vehicle location is sent to the courier 1002.

Referring to FIG. 11, an example data flow diagram for a vehicle fuelingpayment process 1100 of one embodiment of the present disclosure isillustrated. In the present example, the user 202 may be associated witha wallet entity 1102 (a.k.a. payment profile) created to secure creditcard and/or banking information of the user 202. Tokens, identifiers,and payment options may be included in the wallet entity 1102. Atoperation 1112, the user 202 operates the vehicle 102 and the vehicle102 has access to the wallet entity associated with the user 202. Thevehicle 102 connects to a fueling station 1104 to start fueling atoperation 1114. For instance, the fueling station 1104 may be a chargingstation to charge electric-powered vehicles. Additionally oralternatively, the fueling station 1104 may be a conventional fuelingpump providing gasoline or diesel fuel. Responsive to detecting thevehicle 102 is connected, the fueling station 1104 requests for paymentoptions form the vehicle 102 at operation 1116. At operation 1118, thecomputing platform 104 of the vehicle 102 verifies the user profile forpayment options. More specifically, the computing platform 104 may loadthe wallet entity 1102 of the user 202 to check for payment options.Responsive to detecting the wallet entity 1102 and payment options, atoperation 1120, the computing platform 104 uses the registered paymentoption to proceed with the transaction. At operation 1122, the vehicle102 sends a request for payment authorization to a payment system 1106in the cloud using payment information from the wallet entity 1102, andobtains the authorization at operation 1124. At operation 1126, thevehicle sends an authorization confirmation to the fueling station andstarts fueling at operation 1128.

Referring to FIG. 12, an example data flow diagram for a vehicle fuelingpayment process 1200 of one embodiment of the present disclosure isillustrated. Compared with the example illustrated with reference toFIG. 11, the user 202 lends the vehicle 102 to a borrower 1202 in thepresent example. At operation 1212, the user 202 issues a key (e.g.PaaK) to the borrower granting him/her a permission to use the vehicle102. As the borrower 1202 starts to operate the vehicle 102, operations1214 to 1220 are substantially the same as operations 1112 to 1118 asillustrated with reference to FIG. 11. At operation 1222, the computingplatform 104 identifies the borrower is using the vehicle 102 and nowallet entity 1102 is attached with the borrower 1202. Responsive tofailing to detect a wallet, at operation 1224, the vehicle 102 sends arequest for consent to the user 202 (e.g. the mobile device 128) to aspermissions to use the wallet. At operation 1226, the user 202 grantsthe consent. The consent granted by the user 202 may include associatedscope information, such as max amount, number of times, validity periodor the like. Additionally, the scope information may further includelimitations on purchase category. For instance, the user 202 may grantthe consent to use the wallet 1102 to purchase fuel only, and declineany other category of purchases (e.g. road tolls). As an alternativeexample, the consent may be pre-issued with the key at operation 1212.In this case, the vehicle 102 may use the consent information associatedwith the borrower key to proceed with the transaction. Operations 1228to 1234 are substantially the same as operations 1122 to 1128 and thedescription will be repeated here.

While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended thatthese embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather,the words used in the specification are words of description rather thanlimitation, and it is understood that various changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may becombined to form further embodiments of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle, comprising: a controller, programmedto responsive to identifying a first user via a mobile device, load afirst non-person entity (NPE) associated with the first user from themobile device to configure vehicle settings, the first NPE including adriver setting, a first entertainment setting and a second entertainmentsetting; and responsive to identifying a second user entering thevehicle, switch from the first entertainment setting to a secondentertainment setting.
 2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controlleris further programmed to identify the second user using biometricinformation collected via a biometric sensor including at least one of:a camera, or a fingerprint reader.
 3. The vehicle of claim 2, whereinthe controller is further programmed to: load a second NPE associatedwith the second user from a cloud server; and switch from the secondentertainment setting to a third entertainment setting included in thesecond NPE.
 4. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein the second NPE furtherincludes a setting for subscribed service, and the controller is furtherprogrammed to: responsive to receiving a request to load the subscribedservice, load the subscribed service from a local storage of a vehicle;and responsive to detecting the second user has left the vehicle,suspend the subscribed service.
 5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein thecontroller is further programmed to: responsive to receiving a requestto load a service, identify the service is subscribed by the seconduser; responsive to detecting an absence of the second user in thevehicle, decline to load the service; and record the request to load theservice.
 6. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein the controller is furtherprogrammed to: responsive to detecting the second user has entered thevehicle, prompt a message to ask for confirmation to load the service;and responsive to receiving the confirmation, load the service from alocal storage.
 7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the driver settingincludes at least one of: a seat setting, a climate control setting, amirror setting, or a driving mode setting.
 8. The vehicle of claim 1,wherein the first entertainment setting includes at least one of: aradio setting, a music setting, or a subscription setting.
 9. A vehicle,comprising: a controller, programmed to responsive to receiving arequest for payment option from a fueling station, search for a paymentprofile associated with a current vehicle user; responsive to detectinga payment profile, verify if the payment profile includes a purchasecategory covering the fueling station; and responsive to verifying thefueling station is covered, send a request for payment authorization toa cloud server.
 10. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the controller isfurther programmed to: responsive to failing to detect a payment profileassociated with the current vehicle user, send a request for paymentconsent to a predefined party via a wireless network; and receive thepayment consent from the predefined party via the wireless network. 11.The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the payment consent specifies a scopeof payment including at least one of: a maximum amount, number of times,a validity time period or a purchase category authorized.
 12. Thevehicle of claim 9, wherein the controller is further programmed to:responsive detecting a digital key associated with the current vehicleuser, authorize the current vehicle user to operate the vehicle, whereinthe digital key is attached with a payment consent as a part of thepayment profile.
 13. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the controller isfurther programmed to: responsive to receiving a payment authorizationfrom the cloud server, send an authorization confirmation to the fuelingstation; and perform fueling to the vehicle.
 14. The vehicle of claim 9,wherein the fueling station is a charging station.
 15. A method for avehicle, comprising: receiving a configuration for the vehicleassociated with a first user including a driver setting from a cloudserver; responsive to detecting a first mobile device of the first userhas entered the vehicle, applying the driver setting to the vehicle;responsive to detecting a second mobile device of a second user hasentered the vehicle, loading an entertainment setting of the second userfrom the second mobile device; and applying the entertainment setting tothe vehicle without updating the driver setting.
 16. The method of claim15, wherein the driver setting includes at least one of: a seat setting,a climate control setting, a mirror setting, or a driving mode setting.17. The method of claim 15, wherein the entertainment setting includesat least one of: a radio setting, a music setting, or a subscriptionsetting.